The Trump Factor

Posted On 02 Jul 2015 / 0 Comment

0 Comment

Lord knows I try. Honest. But no matter what Donald Trump is saying – be it in a televised interview or a prepared stump speech – eventually my eyes are drawn right back to… that hair. It happened again the other day. The Donald was trying to convince CNN’s Jake Tapper that his extensive experience in negotiating real estate deals has given him the ideal skill set for dealing with ISIS and other terrorists. Tapper wasn’t buying it and I doubt many viewers were either. It didn’t matter. We were all drawn to the most famous comb-over in modern times. How does it stay up there? Does he have a team of hairdressers to keep his famous swoop in place? What would happen if Trump was giving a speech outdoors… on a particularly windy day? Could the comb-over defy the laws of physics? I ask myself these things. I can’t help myself…

…I was tempted to dismiss Donald Trump as a serious candidate as soon as he

announced his intentions to run for president. But then I thought about it for a bit. I still don’t think Trump will win the Republican nomination, but he could very well wind up having a significant impact on the campaign…

…At the very least, Trump is the wild card in a very crowded deck of GOP presidential candidates. Of the 13 hopefuls who have announced (so far), The Donald is the only one who doesn’t really need to raise a bunch of money to mount a campaign. He already has a bunch of money. (How much is “a bunch”? More on that later.) He doesn’t have to sell his soul to big-dollar donors or political action committees to get in the game. He can ante up out of his own deep pockets. That gives him the freedom to say whatever he wants to say without worrying about pissing some people off…

…Speaking of saying what he wants and pissing some people off, Trump didn’t waste any time in doing both of those things. He used the occasion of his formal campaign announcement to fire off a few racist remarks. He portrayed Mexican immigrants as “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.” Nice save there at the end, Trump. Well… not so much. NBC Universal announced Monday that it was cutting all ties with Mr. Trump, who had already resigned his position as host of the reality television show, “The Apprentice.” NBCU’s decision basically cancels the annual airings of the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants, which are co-owned by Trump and NBC. Trump remains the executive producer of “Celebrity Apprentice,” but will not appear on the show…

…It’s not like The Donald needs his paychecks from NBCU to get by. As I mentioned earlier, he has a bunch of money. How much… exactly? Well, it depends on who you ask. Forbes has estimated Trump’s net worth at $4.1 billion. Business Insider says it’s closer to $8.7 billion. We’ll all know a lot more when the comb-over candidate files the financial disclosure forms required of all presidential hopefuls. Suffice it to say that Trump is far richer than the other Republican presidential primary candidates and begins his campaign with the kind of name recognition among voters that his rivals can’t even aspire to match…

…As Trump’s comments on “negotiating with ISIS” made abundantly clear, he has absolutely no background in politics. I’m sure he’s owned (or rented) his share of politicians, but he’s never actually been one. But with both parties struggling to redefine themselves and the public trust of politicians at a historic low, perhaps Trump’s lack of experience will be perceived as a positive by a significant percentage of voters…

… As of right now, Trump is polling second to Jeb Bush in New Hampshire. If Bush and the other candidates aren’t taking him seriously yet, they should be. No one projects Donald Trump as the eventual GOP candidate for president. But it’s quite possible that he will gather up enough support to make his block of voters very valuable to one of the eventual front-runners. A Trump endorsement, given his disdain for Bush and the other hopefuls, would carry a lot of weight. Just picturing The Donald trying to say positive things about someone else while he has the cameras on himself requires a good bit of imagination. But, no matter what he says, we’ll all still be watching that hair…